§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the commercially available devices, including peripherals for commercial microcomputers, capable of generating synthetic speech, listing for each device or system the country of origin; if for each device that uses phoneme synthesis, he will indicate whether or not it has pitch control, 414W for each device using digitised speech, he will indicate the sampling frequency and number of words stored on the standard peripheral and for devices using other techniques of generation, if he will list the number of words stored; and for all these devices, if he will indicate under what circumstances it would be supplied to a person who had permanently lost the power of speech.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe information sought is not available in the detail requested. As the microcomputer devices currently marketed commercially for generating synthetic speech appear to be of only limited use to persons who have permanently lost the power of speech, it would be wasteful of effort and not helpful to collect and supply the detailed information requested.
However, further technical and commercial developments are occuring and these will be followed with interest not only within the Department but, of course, also by hospital consultants who are concerned with the prescribing of aids for the handicapped.
The Department has produced a list of "Aids for the Speech-Impaired", consisting of those understood to be available in April 1980. This list does include at least one device using synthetic speech. I have placed copies in the Library of the House.